Artist: Nippy Blair

Craft Medium:  Mixed Media Artist's Statement: My Louisiana Neighbors are brightly colored whimsical characters rendered on layers of wood and embellished with wire, jewelry, feathers, cloth, and other objects which accentuate the richness of Louisiana culture The idea stage requires lots of drawing and re-drawing. This is the hardest part as I try to get the correct shape, size and what needs to be layered. I then make a pattern and trace that onto ½ inch Birch plywood. I use a hand-held jig saw because I like the control it gives me. After cutting out the pieces, I sand them before beginning to paint. The faces are always painted last. Next I add the fru-fru. This is when the wire, beads, earrings, cloth, yarn and whatever are added. Recycling is a wonderful thing. Ladies at my church share their old costume jewelry and I’m always on the lookout for things people have left behind. I love to dumpster dive. Usually while painting the pieces will tell me their names or sometimes I have the privilege of giving them one – just like a proud parent. After the name, somehow their history emerges, and some of them are bizarre. My people always have different colored eyes just like me. These assemblages in mixed media are then combined with imaginative narratives.